The next portion of Savitri we are going to discuss is as follows.

Insensibly somewhere a breach began:

A long lone line of hesitating hue
Like a vague smile tempting a desert heart
Troubled the far rim of life's obscure sleep.
Arrived from the other side of boundlessness
An eye of deity peered through the dumb deeps;
A scout in a reconnaissance from the sun,
It seemed amid a heavy cosmic rest,
The torpor of a sick and weary world,
To seek for a spirit sole and desolate
Too fallen to recollect forgotten bliss.
Intervening in a mindless universe,
Its message crept through the reluctant hush
Calling the adventure of consciousness and joy
And, conquering Nature's disillusioned breast,
Compelled renewed consent to see and feel.

MEANINGS OF SOME DIFFICULT WORDS

Hue = color.

Desolate = abandoned

Reconnaissance = the act of reconnoitering (especially to gain information about an enemy or

potential enemy)

Torpor = inactivity, inability.

In our last post we discussed how the aspiration of the Nescience emerges. This aspiration
clutched itself to the nescience, as a result of which, now, the Dawn – the Goddess Usha appears.
I personally feel that these are the most beautiful lines of Savitri. These lines are so subtle but yet
sublime, so deep in meaning but so easier and simple to get into the flood of their Spirit.

Insensibly somewhere a breach began:

Now, a breach or opening begins which is insensible or imperceptible. Whenever, we aspire that
is deeply desire for a change, this change takes place so swiftly, and our senses cannot feel this
change occurring. We can only feel the change once it happens and some result is shown.

Now, what is this change happening here? It is the appearance of Goddess Usha.

A long lone line of hesitating hue

Like a vague smile tempting a desert heart
Troubled the far rim of life's obscure sleep.

Now, a thin long line some particular color appears as the Dawn. But this is not dynamic in
nature like a sudden flash of bright light. This line is “hesitating”, as is it is not sure that it will be
extinguished, because the whole environment is still a profound darkness, where any light is not
at all welcomed. Here Sri Aurobindo gives another close-to-life comparison to say how this first
ray of light appears. “Like a vague smile tempting a desert heart”. Whenever we approach a
person who’s heart is deserted, who has no emotions, naturally we put up a weak smile on our
face, hoping that the person will respond. This smile is weak because we are not sure that the
person will give some response. I would like to share a personal experience over here. When I
was in college, in my third year, I got my new bike. I was not having my driving license, I had
applied for it, but I could not stop myself riding my new bike till I got my license. But, the traffic
policemen are very intelligent to catch such idiots. So I used to get caught often. I used to
approach these policemen with such a vague smile. There was one particular officer who was
very fierce and he used to shout at me like “stop smiling like an idiot!” in his police style.
Another fact is I still don’t have a driving license, so this is still happening!

The thing we should know here is that Savitri is not a poem. It is an epic. All such epics are
closer to real life. They are not like films where all phantom things happen. Whether it s Savitri,
or Sri Mad Bhagavad Gita, or any epic of any religion, they are always closer to real life.

Now, whenever we approach such persons with a deserted heart and without any emotions or
sentiments, with such a vague smile, they get disturbed, as happened with the police office I
mentioned. Similarly, this ray of light was not welcome to the “obscure sleep of life” and “the far
rim”, the farthest edge of this life, which was in sleep, got disturbed.

Arrived from the other side of boundlessness

An eye of deity peered through the dumb deeps;
A scout in a reconnaissance from the sun,

This ray of light is like “An eye of deity”, that is Goddess Usha herself, “Arrived from the other
side of boundlessness”. Now, we have a vast darkness everywhere in the nature right now, which
is deadly opposite to the light. When in such darkness, a ray of light breaks through, it appears as
an alien, as some one from somewhere beyond the boundlessness, not even bounds.
Here Goddess Usha arrives as a reconnaissance from the Sun. Sri M P Pandit has explained
about this word reconnaissance very beautifully, in his book, “The Book of Beginnings”.
Reconnaissance is a war tactic developed during World War 2, which implied to send an fighter
plane or spying agents into to the enemy territory, before the attack, to know the ground realities,
their positions, strengths, loop holes in their defense, etc. these planes or spying agents used get
such information and reported them to the concerned commanders. Therefore, this word
reconnaissance can be understood as a messenger on duty, an advance guard etc. Here Goddess
Usha appears as a first ray from the sun, as reconnaissance. According to Vedic Realities,
Goddess Usha is regarded as the first rays of the sun. Now, Goddess Usha, who is arriving from
the other side of boundlessness, and as a reconnaissance from the sun, “peered through the dumb
deeps” of this profound and vast Nought. What was she looking for?

It seemed amid a heavy cosmic rest,

The torpor of a sick and weary world,
To seek for a spirit sole and desolate
Too fallen to recollect forgotten bliss.

In the middle of this heavy rest of the universe and the inactivity of this sick and weary world, it
seeks for a Spirit, which is alone and is abandoned. Here I have confusion about this lone and
abandoned spirit. This spirit is alone, abandoned, without cheer and is “Too fallen to recollect
the forgotten bliss”. Which one is this spirit?

When I referred to Sri A B Purani’s book, for the clarification, he explained that this spirit is
“fallen boundless self” which was awake “Between the first and last nothingness” that is the
inconscient Night, which is compared to a dark woman.

But my synthesis is giving a different picture to me. The words “sole and desolate” (lone and
abandoned) pointed me to think that this spirit is our Earth. If you can recall from our previous
posts, the following lines –

Earth wheeled abandoned in the hollow gulfs

Forgetful of her spirit and her fate.

Here I request the members to present their opinions in this regard by providing their opinions.

Intervening in a mindless universe,

Its message crept through the reluctant hush
Calling the adventure of consciousness and joy
And, conquering Nature's disillusioned breast,
Compelled renewed consent to see and feel.

Here Goddess Usha spreads a message, a call to this inconscient Night to wake up for an
“adventure of consciousness and joy”. Any journey from inconscience to consciousness, from
pain to joy is an adventurous journey. Not at all an easier flight. If you have done adventure
sports like trekking, you will be aware that however painful and difficult such adventures are, at
the end they give sheer joy and a satisfaction of some achievement. This message spreads in the
mindless Nature or Universe, through its “reluctant hush”.
Here we need to think a little bit upon why Sri Aurobindo calls the universe at this stage as
mindless and that it is exhibiting a reluctant hush? Because it has been disillusioned earlier,
because its aspiration for Glory, Immortality or Light has been shattered during the previous
creation. Whenever a person’s aspiration is not achieved, he is shattered. He gets detached from
everything and every one and becomes reluctant. With some unfortunate people, it becomes a
sort of permanent disorder. An example I can give here is the situation of Salman Khan’s
character in the film “Tere Naam”. I am not a filmy guy, but I remember this film, which I was
forced to see in a bus I was traveling.

Therefore, the universe or the nature is disillusioned and it is reluctant to the ray of light, the
Goddess of Dawn Usha. But this message is from the reconnaissance from the sun! Therefore it
conquers the disillusionment of this nature and it compels a consent from it to take up the
adventure of consciousness and joy, that is consent to “see” the consciousness and “feel” the
joy. This is very similar to your mom waking you up in the early morning on Sundays and
ordering you to clean up the mess of your room. You have to do it even if you admire your
messy room.

Like this Savitri is never difficult to understand. The only thing is open your heart for it, rest is
done by itself.